Covid virus in phoenix (Globe, Miami: volunteer, collection, certified)

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

So what? Go to Safeway, get a shot and ten bucks off on your grocery bill. One and done would be nice, but I just don't see the problem here. My dog gets shots every year. I can too.

who said it was a problem?
I get shots every year too

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by wase4711

I'm no doctor, but you can save this post for future reference..

just like the flu, this will morph into a slightly different variant every year, so expect to need some sort of booster/new shot every year for a long time
whether its driven by greed of the drug companies, or medical fact, it wont matter.

Covid, or what ever we call it as we go down the road, isnt going away anytime soon, and the vaccines wont be a "one and done"

IMO, the South African variety already will mandate a booster/modification. In fact, J&J's one-shot variety results were just released. And the vaccine’s efficacy rate is 72 percent in the United States. It drops to 57 percent in South Africa which has a mix of COVID mutations (not 100% SA variety). Other vaccines are also showing a decent sized drop with this SA brew. AND, 100% guarantee that we will have more "antigen drift" / mutations to follow.

I'm becoming less cautiously optimistic as the days roll out. Plus, I was really hoping for a homerun with J&J. J&J was a base hit.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

IMO, the South African variety already will mandate a booster/modification. In fact, J&J's one-shot variety results were just released. And the vaccine’s efficacy rate is 72 percent in the United States. It drops to 57 percent in South Africa which has a mix of COVID mutations (not 100% SA variety). Other vaccines are also showing a decent sized drop with this SA brew. AND, 100% guarantee that we will have more "antigen drift" / mutations to follow.

I'm becoming less cautiously optimistic as the days roll out. Plus, I was really hoping for a homerun with J&J. J&J was a base hit.

J&J was 85% effective against serious disease after 29 days there were no serious cases in the vaccinated group after 49 days (no hospitalizations). It takes about that long to get both shots of the mRNA and the immune response. Also, consider that the two mRNAs were tested months ago when the variants, known and unknown, were not circulating. Maybe it is an apples to oranges comparison in that regard.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

J&J was 85% effective against serious disease after 29 days there were no serious cases in the vaccinated group after 49 days (no hospitalizations). It takes about that long to get both shots of the mRNA and the immune response. Also, consider that the two mRNAs were tested months ago when the variants, known and unknown, were not circulating. Maybe it is an apples to oranges comparison in that regard.

Correct in bold. Additionally, it is highly probable that the effectiveness will jump several % with two J&J shots. An educated guess by Dr. Fauci is up to 90% on the USA and UK variants.

My point is that the antigen drift is going to happen multiple more times. Especially when considering that people refuse to vaccinate, we have a slow-rollout, this new SA strain which is less effective is going to have lasting legs, etc. Couple that with fatigue and some people's refusal to buy into masks (30% still don't bother), it's far from over. As we drag this out, the health of our economy is concerning. I'm not exactly concerned with dying. But I don't want lasting health issues so I am being careful. All of this is such a mess!

[DetroitN8V]

There won't be further mutations when we reach heard immunity. The current vaccines' effectiveness are more than enough to get us there, even if they are diluted by the current variants. It's a matter of speed and convincing the paranoid to get shot up at this point. If we can do it quick enough and with enough volume, it's over.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

There won't be further mutations when we reach heard immunity. The current vaccines' effectiveness are more than enough to get us there, even if they are diluted by the current variants. It's a matter of speed and convincing the paranoid to get shot up at this point. If we can do it quick enough and with enough volume, it's over.

That is a valid point but you are talking about the entire world when you speak of herd immunity necessary to suppress infection and replication to that degree. New variants will likely always emerge from some neglected corner of the planet and be transported by a mobile global population.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

That is a valid point but you are talking about the entire world when you speak of herd immunity necessary to suppress infection and replication to that degree. New variants will likely always emerge from some neglected corner of the planet and be transported by a mobile global population.

That's true. So, perhaps an annual booster will be in order. I still see us returning to normal life by the end of the year if this vaccine program steps up speed and educates the conspiracy crowd.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by wase4711

I'm no doctor, but you can save this post for future reference..

just like the flu, this will morph into a slightly different variant every year, so expect to need some sort of booster/new shot every year for a long time
whether its driven by greed of the drug companies, or medical fact, it wont matter.

Covid, or what ever we call it as we go down the road, isnt going away anytime soon, and the vaccines wont be a "one and done"

Also, once the COVID spread is reduced to the point where it's no longer a news item, there will likely be yet another public health concern in the not too distant future. We seem to have forgotten the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s, and the H1N1 flu virus in 2009 (I had a "mild" case of this, even after receiving the annual flu shot that year). One thing these all have in common: they originated in foreign countries where wet markets are common. Coincidence?

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

That's true. So, perhaps an annual booster will be in order. I still see us returning to normal life by the end of the year if this vaccine program steps up speed and educates the conspiracy crowd.

Hard to tell at this point. There's a certain percentage of the population which is adamantly opposed to vaccines. Usually at first, there can be greater resistance to new vaccinations, such as the ones for COVID. Also, during the initial stages of the Polio vaccines some 60+ years ago, some children actually contracted Polio after receiving their shots. This caused more people to refuse the vaccinations due to mistrust.

In a way, I can understand the resistance based on these incidents ... however, increased opposition also leads to increased infection rates. To this date, there are parents who absolutely refuse to have their children vaccinated for childhood diseases (measles, etc.) for different reasons. They're often the same ones who will refuse to be vaccinated against COVID, even if & when the shots become more readily available. All I can say is that while they have the right to refuse them, they are also part of the problem.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Hard to tell at this point. There's a certain percentage of the population which is adamantly opposed to vaccines. Usually at first, there can be greater resistance to new vaccinations, such as the ones for COVID. Also, during the initial stages of the Polio vaccines some 60+ years ago, some children actually contracted Polio after receiving their shots. This caused more people to refuse the vaccinations due to mistrust.

In a way, I can understand the resistance based on these incidents ... however, increased opposition also leads to increased infection rates. To this date, there are parents who absolutely refuse to have their children vaccinated for childhood diseases (measles, etc.) for different reasons. They're often the same ones who will refuse to be vaccinated against COVID, even if & when the shots become more readily available. All I can say is that while they have the right to refuse them, they are also part of the problem.

The anti-vax sentiment will die out as the vaccine becomes more normalized and as they learn quickly how restrictive their lives will be without it. I doubt most of them are avid travelers, but if so, I see them being forced into it whether they get over their paranoia or not. As our economy continues to be in slow motion, they’ll be to blame and I think they’ll be stigmatized as well. The point is, there are lots of factors that will cause the anti-vax thing to fizzle out. Of course there will be die-hard (die-easy?!) anti-vaxxers but they’ll remain in the fringe, as they were pre-COVID.

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

J&J was 85% effective against serious disease after 29 days there were no serious cases in the vaccinated group after 49 days (no hospitalizations). It takes about that long to get both shots of the mRNA and the immune response. Also, consider that the two mRNAs were tested months ago when the variants, known and unknown, were not circulating. Maybe it is an apples to oranges comparison in that regard.

J&J was tested during a later time period of the pandemic when variants arose. By contrast, the other two vaccines went through trials earlier when the variants weren 't as prevalent. So, the comparison of efficacy rates isn't the same. If done at the same time period, J&J may likely be more robust given a population with some infections due to variants.